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Dante Goldenblade
"I should kill all of you here and now. But where's the fun in that?" - Dante to The Fateslayers Dante was once a paladin of the Church of Pelor in Amaranthia, but was corrupted by dark magic turning him into one of the strongest Deathknights in history. Appearance Before his corruption, Dante was a tall Adonis of a man, with piercing blue eyes, shining golden hair and porcelain skin. After his corruption, his eyes became red and soulless, his hair turned white and thin, and his skin became a dead grey colour. Biography Early Life Born in the city of Amaranthia and trained to be a paladin since he could walk, Dante always had a strong sense of justice. Not long after he became an official paladin, a young child was left at the door of the church. Marcus Dawning, the leader of The Church Of Pelor, took the child in as his own and raised him to be a paladin as well. Dante and the child had a strong rivalry early on, with Dante clearly ahead. After a number of years, the child left to join a Guild, while Dante remained in the city. He kept his ear to the ground, snuffing out cultists wherever he could find them, and rose to a top ranking position in the paladin forces of Amaranthia. Dante kept many secrets from the church. Secrets like funding experiments in exchange for information, never really knowing what the experiments were, but it was a means to an end for him. Eventually, Dante received information regarding a rare relic, the longsword belonging to the first paladin of The Church Of Pelor, and orchestrated a personal pilgrimage to find it. He found it among a group of cultists, whom he quickly dispatched. Bringing the broken sword back to the church, Dante expected to be greeted with celebration, but was given little more than a simple thank you from Marcus. Assuming that he simply wanted to study the sword more closely, he thought nothing of it. A few years later, Dante learns that Marcus was planning a pilgrimage to have the sword repaired, and assumes that he will be offered as a reward for finding the blade. He would soon be met with disappointment. Dead War A few days after hearing about the pilgrimage Marcus was arranging, Dante's old rival Sherman arrived in Amaranthia accompanied by a number of his companions. Initially taunting Sherman, implying him the weaker of the two paladins, Sherman informed him that Marcus invited him to discuss a pilgrimage. Leaving his old rival to prepare for his own pilgrimage, Dante was informed that he woud not be attending the pilgrimage to repair the sword, and would instead be sent on a mission to clear out a den of cultists held up somewhere in the valley near by. Furious about this, Dante barged into Marcus' office only to see Sherman and his companions being offered his mission instead. The two exchange words, mostly about how Dante has earned the right to go on this pilgrimage, and is sent away by Marcus. Heading out immediately, Dante began plotting on how to deal with this issue he saw before him. He devised a plan involving his own group being caught off guard, being killed and Dante offering the cultists a deal. Promising them the holy longsword in exchange for his life, he disclosed the location of the blacksmith who was repairing the sword and a temple near by where they could perform a ritual if they chose to. The cultists accepted the terms, and left for the blacksmith immediately. His plan now in motion, Dante left for the temple and waited for the cultists arrival. Soon after, the cultists arrived with the newly repaired blade, and began their dark ritual. Not long after, Sherman and his friends appeared, and made quick work of the cultists. Dante then left his hiding place, and disclosed his plan to the group. He was going to kill them and inform the church that he arrived moments too late, and the group was killed by the cultists. Trying to use some of his paladin abilities to attack Sherman, he quickly discovered that he had lost his powers. This made Dante quick work for his enemies, and was slain by a bronze skinned human with silver hair, who informed him that he had no excuses as he was taken in by a good church. The human struck him so hard that the cavern started to collapse on the group, and they were forced to escape. And so, Dante sunk to the depths of the earth, having breathed his last breath...or so it seemed. As he lay there, his bones crushed under the rubble, all seemed lost for Dante. But suddenly, a magic ring found its way to him. Sensing a lost soul, it decided to grant Dante a second chance at life. However, Dante's greed and lust for power was more than the ring could handle. Instead of simply granting him new life, Dante drained every last drop of magic from the ring and as a result became twisted. He lost most of his hair, his skin became grey, and his armor and blade were turned as black as the night. He was reborn as something far stronger than a paladin, a Deathknight. With his new found abilities, he was easily able to escape from the rubble. Thinking about his last few moments, he realized that he was far too rash. Instead of simply trying to kill his enemies, he decided it best to play the waiting game, build up an army, and crush everything that they cared about. He learned many things about his new powers, including the ability to siphon magic from beings that he killed, the ability to move through the shadows, and the ability to turn creatures that he killed into undead thralls. Wanting to test his limits, he went looking for a powerful being in the vicinity, an ancient dragon. Normally, Dante would have been little more than a light snack for this beast, but his power proved more than a match for even a dragon. After defeating the dragon, he decided to test his ability to create undead. Though a little rough around the edges, he was able to bring the dragon back as his thrall. Having a dragon under control would prove quite useful after all. Over the next year or so, Dante practiced with his powers, honing them so that he could extract his revenge. He discovered that, even for just a short amount of time, he could grant a significant power boost to himself and the dead under his command. It was finally time for his vengeance. Dante found a skilled band of soldiers, and decided to use them as bait. Knowing their disappearance would be an anomaly in of itself, it was the perfect trap to lure in the Silver Dragons. Surely enough, they came to investigate. Using a powerful nether blast Dante sealed off their only exit, and divided the group so that he could fight against Sherman while his horde fought his comrades, all the while keeping his identity hidden. Making quick work of his old rival, but ensuring to keep him alive, Dante dragged him into the shadows where he made his escape. He brought Sherman to the temple where he was killed and locked him away in the dungeon. Instead of simply killing him, Dante felt it best to make him suffer. Using his connections, he was able to locate Sherman's birth mother and sister. He brought them both to the dungeon and forced Sherman to choose between the two of them. In the end, Dante killed both of them and brought them back for Sherman to kill again, then proceeded to lock them in the room with him. Not long after, Sherman's comrades arrived on the scene, only they were not alone. They brought not only a powerful silver dragon with them named Terandious, but also a Demon prince named Griffith. The Demon was able to knock off Dante's helmet, revealing his identity. Feeling a little in over his head, with a Dragon, a Demon and an entire guild breathing down his neck, he felt it best to make a strategic withdrawal. Not without bringing forth his undead dragon to buy himself some time, and taking a quick strike at the bronze skinned silver haired human. Having done at least some damage to his enemy, Dante spent the next few years building up an army of the damned. Picking choice individuals to become his Deathknight generals, and a number of Necromancers to maintain his army, and using some of his connections with cults around the country side to gather fresh bodies his army grew to an unbelievable size. He made sure to make some special cases with his creations to make sure the Silver Dragons were met with a surprise when he finally attacked. Though his army was powerful, there were spots of rebellion among the undead, including many necromancers trying to build up an army to rival his. Dante made sure to personally quell any form of undead uprising other than his own. During his campaign, he met a man who had his own bitterness towards one of the Silver Dragons, Roy Arcadia, and decided to offer him safe harbor from his enemies. Roy was missing one of his arms, so Dante offered to acquire a new one for him, but Roy had something else in mind. Dante used his connections to build an axe for him out of a rare material that was poisonous to Dragons. Roy spent a lot of time fighting metallic dragons, and thanks to his new weapon this was hardly a challenge for him at all. Dante warned him that if he killed too many he would attract unwanted attention, but Roy was stubborn. Word of a vampire building up an army reached the Legion Of The Damned, and so Dante set out to quell it while Roy dealt with a family issue. Dante knew that the task would be easy, as there was only one Vampire he needed to kill to quell the rebellion. When he arrived, he found that the Vampire Lord was mid conversation with some of the Silver Dragons. Dante quickly killed the Vampire, siphoning the magic of his immortality. Instead of killing his foes, Dante instead decided to give them the old magic ring he had drained of its power, telling them it would be worth something when he finally rules the world before taking his leave. Before returning to his base of operations, he stopped where Roy was held up, to find two members of the Silver Dragons, one unconscious and the other at deaths door. As Roy was about to deal the killing blow to the worse of the two, Dante stopped him informing him that it would be better if he bled out next to his friend who couldn't do anything about it. Roy reluctantly agreed, questioning when he would be made into a Deathknight. Dante promised that it would come in time, and to hold off on killing dragons for now until their plans were complete. The two then left their enemies for dead. When the two returned to their base of operations, Dante took Roys new axe and promised to imbue it with some of his power in order to make him a Deathknight. In truth, he was simply taking the axe away to prevent him from attacking more dragons. Dante began to plan his assault, as his preparations were nearing completion, when one of his scouts informed him of a ritual meant to seal the great demon Maloron. Seeing the opportunity to add a powerful addition to his army, he requested the scout to keep him informed of the ritual. After a few days, the scout brought back word that the ritual had failed, and Maloron had been released. Seeing the threat, as Maloron would destroy the world which Dante wanted to rule, he saw little choice but to force a temporary alliance with the Fateslayers. They very reluctantly accepted, as Dantes army wouldn't strengthen Maloron as they fell, but also Dante would just kill them if they refused. The group went to Amaranthia, the closest holy place to Maloron where he was attempting to bombard the city but failing as it was warded. It was a hard fought battle, and Dante could see that the Fateslayers now had improved equipment. The group managed to kill Maloron, with Dante landing the final blow. After the demon fell, he returned to the normal size of a balor demon. He then used his powers as a Deathknight to enthrall Maloron and escape through the shadows. With Maloron now under his command, Dante prepared his army for their assault. He commanded his castle to take root just outside of the city of Nater. The plan was to cut through not only Nater, but Roy and Wolfies old home as well in order to get to the Fateslayers guild. His Necromancers and Deathknights prepared their forces as they began to bare down on Nater... Equipment Dante possesses a blade imbued with mass amounts of magic, and powerful armor that increases the powers of the undead. Powers The worlds most powerful Deathknight, Dante has the power to control a vast army of the undead.